


before we begin

by thingswithwings



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, Sex Magic, Virgin Shadowhunter Energy, Virginity, Virginity Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 14:15:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15487665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings
Summary: ok, so, when a show BRINGS UP a term like Virgin Shadowhunter Energy, and then the plot around said term MAKES NO SENSE (Magnus says it was a lie? But Alec was a virgin? But if there's no such thing why doesn't Magnus use energy from Clary to heal Luke when it's down to the wire?) I am compelled to investigate further. For SCIENCEWritten for were_duck, for the prompt: "tell me more about virgin shadowhunter magic, Magnus?"





	before we begin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [were_duck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/were_duck/gifts).



> I was having trouble getting back into writing, so I threw open prompts at my DW journal and wrote fast and hard. These fics are all quick and unbetaed, with very little research done, as I was just trying to get some practice in and get back in the writing mode. Apologies for any continuity errors etc. Thanks to everyone who prompted and encouraged me! And apologies to subscribers, who are now gonna get spammed as I repost them to AO3. 
> 
> Original prompt post here: https://thingswithwings.dreamwidth.org/226811.html

Alec's Shadowhunter magic _is_ strong, Magnus knows that from the first casting they ever do together, for that memory demon, when they join hands and Magnus feels power flow between them. He spares a fleeting thought for what the two of them could do together, then, but it's so far off from ever becoming reality that he tries not to think about it too much. Wouldn't do to get ahead of oneself, after all. But days later he’s still distracted, remembering that spark between them. 

It only gets worse, of course, when Alec shares his magic with Magnus to help heal Luke. Magnus hasn’t felt an energy this compatible with his own in decades, and as exhausted as he is, he can’t help but be fascinated as well.

The first time he sees Alec on his couch – asleep, drooling adorably – the idea refuses to be repressed any longer. Especially after Alec wakes up, acts like he's desperately afraid of handsome stylish men, tells Magnus he _trusts_ him, and then runs away. 

The second time he sees Alec on his couch, conditions are a little better: they've had a date, they've talked, and Jace is out of the house again after his crash landing on Magnus's doorstep. Magnus puts his arm around Alec's shoulders, and after the first moment of tension, Alec relaxes into it.

"So, you really don't care that I . . . haven't been with a lot of people," Alec says, clearly still concerned. Magnus smiles and holds him a little closer. Their size difference doesn't make it easy, but Magnus wouldn't be here in the first place if he didn't have a thing for dark-eyed men with broad shoulders. 

"No," Magnus says, doing his best to ignore the half-lie in the sentence. "I don't."

He takes a deep breath. "What if it were none?"

"Ah," Magnus says. "That would also be fine."

Alec twists around to look at him, pulling back and making eye contact for the first time in the conversation. "You don't sound surprised. Even Izzy was surprised."

"You sister isn't a warlock," Magnus says, then winces at his implication. Alec pulls further away, putting space between them on the couch.

"Magnus," he says, slowly, "are you telling me. That all warlocks. Can tell that I'm a – a – "

"A virgin? No."

Alec starts to relax, which makes Magnus feel bad, so he winces and adds, "Only the ones who are looking for it."

Alec's look of incredulity speaks for itself, which is useful given Alec's silence. 

"Look," Magnus says, leaning forward and setting down his wine glass. "Have very many warlocks asked you out? Propositioned you?"

Blinking in surprise at the seeming topic shift, Alec says, "Only the one, and no propositions just yet." This with a wry smile that Magnus finds _very_ promising.

Magnus grins. "Then they probably didn't know. If they did, they'd have wanted to . . .” Magnus waves a hand delicately to fill in for a multitude of possibilities, “. . . be there when you lost your virginity."

"Because," Alec says dangerously.

" _Because,_ Shadowhunters have a certain, hmmn, energy that gets released in those moments. It can be useful for some very particular types of spellwork." Magnus smiles to himself, a little smug. "So many warlocks make assumptions, though. They saw how handsome you were, how commanding. They didn't check."

"But you did?" Alec is on the verge of sounding betrayed, so Magnus opts again for honesty.

"Alexander, perhaps you didn't notice, but I had an embarrassingly huge crush on you from the moment I first saw you," Magnus says, a little vexed. He feels his cheeks flush; he hasn't had these feelings in a long time, and Alec took him by surprise from the start. That power, flowing between them. Magnus sometimes still thinks he can feel it. 

"Oh," Alec says.

"If _you_ could've used a spell to know more about _my_ sexuality . . . "

"I get it," Alec says, smiling now. "I uh, didn’t really need a spell to know you were into me, though.” Magnus pushes at his shoulder, but Alec doesn’t go far before coming back to press their shoulders together once more. “So, wait, does that mean – if we – when we – you'll want to harvest my energy?"

"Harvest isn’t the word I’d use. It's really a very beautiful process," Magnus says. "But no, you don't have to. If you did, according to the Accords, the energy would belong to you, and you'd have control over its use."

"I do _not_ remember reading about that in the Accords."

"Warlock Accords. Intra-clan stuff. Part of our internal code of ethics, not the laws we've negotiated with the Clave."

"Wow," Alec says. "Okay, I guess I'll think about that." He settles back against Magnus's shoulder, closer and more relaxed than he was before, and Magnus takes a deep, relieved breath. 

"Just – to be clear," Magnus says, "if you do want to start collecting the energy, it would be better to start before we have sex. As soon as possible, really."

"What?" Alec turns to look at him, but this time doesn't pull away, so his head rests on Magnus's shoulder. It warms him, that small intimacy.

"Well," Magnus lets his voice drop to a lower register, and licks his lips. He's pleased to see Alec's gaze drop to watch his mouth when he does so. "What is virginity, really? When do you stop being a virgin?" He kisses Alec on the lips, lightly, briefly. "When you kissed me for the first time, were you the same kind of virgin afterwards as you were before? Did you feel the same?"

"I felt . . . different," Alec breathes. "A little different. But that's not – "

"Not sex, no. But there are a lot of intimate things we can do with one another that aren't sex. And a lot of sexual things that some would say aren't sex either." He drawls out the last few words, waiting to see how Alec responds. 

Several heartbeats go by with the silence undisturbed. Then: "Will you – will you tell me?" Alec asks, his voice raw.

"I will," Magnus says. "If you promise to tell me if you want me to stop."

"I promise," Alec replies, quickly, and Magnus can’t help but think: _ah, too bad, that might’ve been his first consent discussion. missed that one._

“Then imagine,” Magnus begins, trailing his finger down Alec’s arm, over the fabric of his long-sleeved shirt, “that I were to unbutton your shirt. Even that, on its own, could be a first, if you felt that way about it.” At Alec’s sudden intake of breath, Magnus assumes that he does, and it would be. “Then imagine that I touched your chest, your nipples. Put my mouth to your skin and sucked. Licked over your nipple – let’s say, the right one,” Magnus gestures, hand in the air a good four inches above the nipple in question, “until it tightened under my tongue.” He pauses, letting Alec sit with the image for a moment. “Would you feel as virginal afterwards as you did before?”

Alec swallows, apparently realizing that some response is required. “No,” he says. “I’d feel really fucking different.”

Magnus chuckles. Kisses him again, chastely, drawing away with a smile when Alec chases his mouth. 

“Now imagine,” Magnus says, slowly, “that I touched you – touched your cock over your pants,” Magnus says, letting his mouth dwell on the long vowel and hard K sounds of _cock_. “Or that you slid your hand into my pants, over my boxers, your fingers teasing me through the soft silk.”

“I think I’m starting to see the point,” Alec mutters. His breathing is faster, his skin hotter. 

“Are you?”

Alec draws a breath, open mouthed, then says, “I always thought that when someone – when you fucked me, then I’d know, then I’d be different.”

“Fucked you how?” He trails his fingertips just above the dark hairs on Alec’s left hand, watching them as they stand to meet his touch. “Fucked your mouth? Rode your cock? Ground up against you until we both came all over one another?”

Shivering, Alec shakes his head. “You know what I mean.”

“I want to hear you say it.”

Magnus should’ve known that Alec can’t resist a challenge; when he looks over to see Alec’s face, his expression is clear, confident, and full of unbridled desire. 

To seek to bridle it is almost a shame, Magnus thinks wildly.

“Fucked my ass,” Alec says. “That was always what counted.”

“I get it,” Magnus says softly, holding eye contact. “I do.”

Alec shrugs self-deprecatingly, perhaps to defuse the intensity of the moment, then looks at him sidelong. “How long’s it been since you had any kind of virginity left?”

“Oof. I think some of them have grown back,” Magnus drawls, and Alec kisses him. Alec’s hand hesitates over Magnus’s chest, not quite touching. Part of Magnus aches to just roll him over, straddle his thighs, kiss him in earnest, fuck him the way he clearly wants to be fucked; but he doubts that would be good or end well for anyone involved. Instead, he pulls out of the kiss and touches Alec’s face, gently, with one finger.

“Virginity is a state of mind, an idea,” Magnus breathes. “When you feel that excitement of doing something for the first time, when it matters to you – that’s when the magic happens.”

“Literally,” Alec says, half a question.

“Literally. Shadowhunters have magic; it’s how your runes work. Your beliefs, your desires, your feelings – they all channel trace amounts of magic.”

“And you would – take it out of me,” Alec says, eyes darkening. Magnus smiles at him dangerously, letting him fantasize for a moment, fantasizing himself. That kind of advanced sex magic does exist, and perhaps, in a few years or decades, Alec might be able to convince Magnus that they should try it together.

“Not take,” Magnus corrects. “Here.” He conjures a large, round-bottomed vial. It’s clear glass and labeled _Alexander’s Virgin Shadowhunter Energy_ in large, swoopy handwriting. Alec laughs. “Every time you feel that feeling, that you’ve crossed a barrier, become a different sexual being,” he wiggles his fingers, and the vial fills with a half an inch of pink, blue, and purple magic. “We’d collect a little more. Without me channeling it, the magic would simply – ” he waves his hand, and the vial is uncorked, releasing the colors into the air – “dissipate. As it has so far.”

“When we kissed the first time,” Alec says.

“If you felt strongly about that,” Magnus teases, and lets color collect at the bottom of the vial again, by way of demonstration. “Imagine the moments that took courage, or that scared you, or when you didn’t know what to expect, or when you were excited and couldn’t wait.”

It takes him a few breaths, but eventually Alec speaks. 

“When I touched you – not, not just your face, but when I touched your waist,” Alec breathes. “Being allowed to touch you, that felt good.” Magnus is surprised; Alec had given no sign that such a touch had been meaningful. Obligingly, he fills the vial a little more.

“And when you held my hand, while we were walking earlier,” Alec adds. Magnus quirks an eyebrow. That one, he would’ve predicted, given Shadowhunters. He adds a little more magic.

Magnus clears his throat. “And what about when you sat here next to me, pressed up against me, letting me talk to you about all the different ways I’d like to kiss you, and fuck you, and suck you?” Magnus asks. Alec nods, and Magnus fills the vial a little further. A blush stains Alec’s cheeks, pink to match the light coming from the vial. Magnus feels a little warm himself.

“I really like hearing you talk,” Alec says, fervently. Magnus just smiles in response, but adds a little color to the vial for _getting half-hard while your boyfriend dirty talks to you fully-clothed on the couch_.

“Will it really be a big glass jar? Like that?” Alec asks, glancing up at it. Magnus laughs and spreads his hands, letting the conjuring dissipate. 

“No, of course not. You wouldn’t store valuable energy in that.”

“Oh, okay.”

“It’s not earthquake-proof, to start with. And of course I’d use something more your style.” He thinks for a moment, then snaps his fingers. A broad cylindrical container, about eight inches tall, four inches in diameter, appears on the table next to them. Its burnished steel surface reflects the light charmingly.

“Modern but elegant, strong but pretty,” Magnus says, which makes Alec smile, clearly pleased by the compliment. God, Magnus loves how Alec takes to a compliment. “Only if you want to, darling.”

“What does it feel like?” Alec asks. His eyes are bright. Magnus considers.

“Do something to me you haven’t done before,” Magnus offers, touching his hand, stroking fingertips over his knuckles. “Something you’ve been wanting to do. And I’ll show you.”

Alec gulps, and his gaze falls to Magnus’s neck. He leans forward for a kiss, which isn’t new at all, but then Alec dips his head down, lips feather-light and soft against Magnus’s adam's apple, his collarbone, the soft skin behind his ear. Alec may be inexperienced but he’s quick, picks up immediately on the little stifled gasp that Magnus makes when he sucks just below Magnus’s earlobe. He does it again, then again, varying speed and pressure. 

Magnus barely remembers in time that there’s a _point_ to this little exercise, and reaches out with his magic. Sure enough, Alec’s aura is releasing just a little tendril of energy. Magnus guides it into the steel container, feeling again the bright sparking power of working with Alec’s magic, and this time getting a hint of the feeling behind it. As he does so, Alec’s mouth stills against his neck, his breath skittering hot and fast against his skin. Magnus shivers.

“That . . . that feels amazing,” Alec says, pulling back just far enough to look into Magnus’s eyes. “Magnus, that was so _intense_.”

“It amplifies whatever feeling you’re experiencing.” Magnus strokes his hair. “What feeling was that?”

“You felt it too?” Alec asks. Magnus nods.

“I’ll feel it more, the more we do it. So will you.”

“It was . . . exhilaration,” Alec says, on an exhaled breath. Magnus raises his eyebrows; Alec isn’t usually so forthcoming with words. “Exhilaration, and, and want, and, well. Pride.” He licks his lips. “You liked it.”

“Mmm. You certainly found a button of mine. That is a nice first to capture.” 

Alec bends down and picks up the steel container. There’s no joint or opening; it’s all of a piece. “What do we do with it when we’re done?” he asks. 

“Do you think you’ll ever feel done?” Magnus asks. He holds up his hands at Alec’s exasperated look. “Mostly, it can be used for sex magic. That feeling you just felt? Think of this like a little reserve that you can draw on again.”

Alec nods, then hands it over to Magnus.

“Alexander,” Magnus says, “I told you it belonged to you. I can’t keep it.”

“All right,” Alec says. Still holding the container, he looks back up at Magnus. “What if I told you I wanted to do it all now? Tonight?”

“Mmm. I’d tell you that the magic works better,” Magnus leans over to him and kisses his lips, “when it’s done,” he kisses again, “slowly.” A third kiss. “But I wouldn’t say no. It’s your rodeo.”

“I think I’m starting to see the benefits of going slow,” Alec says. He meets Magnus for another soft, searing kiss, then dips his head down again, unerringly finding that same spot below his ear. Angels and demons save him from being target practice for an archer, Magnus thinks. He’ll never survive.

*

A few days later, at the Institute, Magnus walks into Alec’s office and sees the steel container sitting on his desk. He has a small heart attack – or, he feels certain that he would have, if he weren’t immortal.

“What is that doing on your desk,” he hisses at Alec. Alec shrugs.

“Other people don’t know what it is.”

“Still! It’s like putting a dildo on your desk or something, how can you just work with . . . with . . .” He trails off as Alec smirks at him.

“I like being reminded of you while I’m working.” Moving towards him, Alec glances back over his shoulder to make sure his door is locked. “Makes me think about . . . not working.”

“Oh really.” Magnus takes his cue, stepping forward into Alec’s arms. They kiss, then pull apart. Alec kisses Magnus’s jaw, scrapes his teeth against his beard.

“Will you do it again? The collecting?” Spoken in a murmur against Magnus’s ear.

“What, here?” 

Feeling Alec nod against his shoulder, Magnus sees how it makes sense. Their first kiss was here, too, in the beating heart of the world that told Alec he couldn’t have what he desired, that _gay_ and _Shadowhunter_ were mutually exclusive terms. These surroundings . . . signify. He adds ‘first time we fuck at the Institute’ to his already long list of potential virginities.

“What do you want?” Magnus asks. Alec’s breathing fast, looks a little out of it. Magnus slides his hand into Alec’s palm. “Put my hand where you want it.”

Holding his gaze, Alec slides Magnus’s hand under the bottom hem of his t-shirt, guiding him over his abs and up to his chest. 

“Mmm, lovely.” He lets his thumb slide glancingly over a nipple. “Now tell me why, Alexander.”

“I – I couldn’t stop thinking about this, after you described it.”

“Too bad you’re not wearing a button-up today, for me to rip open,” Magnus says, applying more pressure with his thumb, scratching with his fingers across the soft skin above. Alec gasps, and in that gasp Magnus hears it, feels it, and closes his eyes to guide the magic from Alec into the container. Then they’re kissing, deeply, desperately, both of them affected by the glow of the energy transfer. Magnus keeps stroking over Alec’s nipple until the high and the kiss both fade away.

“Yeah,” Alec says, smiling against Magnus’s mouth. 

“I agree,” Magnus laughs. Usually, if he teases, Alec will roll his eyes or push him gently. This time, he pulls Magnus into a hug. He’s hard against Magnus’s thigh, but Magnus gets the sense that it’s almost an afterthought. 

“Thank you,” Alec says.

Magnus kisses him again, then makes a quick exeunt before he can be tempted to put his hands anywhere else.

*

Magnus tastes the magic of all of Alec’s desires: the first time he takes off Magnus’s shirt, the first time he’s allowed to touch and explore; the first time they lie down together, Magnus sprawled atop Alec’s body, their legs entwining; the first time he gets impatient with their height difference and lifts Magnus by the waist, letting Magnus wrap his legs around his torso, bearing his weight while they kiss. It’s all different, all of Alec’s different kinds of joy and anticipation and apprehension, all of his different kinds of release when something new happens and it’s still good, still okay, still allowed. 

When Alec shows up asking to take the next step, Magnus hesitates, but lets himself be convinced by the light in Alec’s eyes, the joy behind his quick, biting kisses. 

“Remember – mmmphh,” Magnus manages, between kisses, as Alec steers them toward the bed. “Remember when I said that there are a lot of kinds of sex?”

“You thought I might _forget_ that conversation?” Alec grins, kissing his way down Magnus’s throat.

Magnus acquiesces to Alec’s hands as they make quick work of his shirt, pushing it down off his shoulders and onto the floor. Alec’s hands are broad and strong as they wrap around Magnus’s ribs, span over his pecs, run up and down the muscles of his arms, restless, desiring, over bare skin. Magnus feels the bed at the back of his legs and chooses that moment to sit down, pulling away from Alec’s mouth and hands, leaning back on his elbows and looking up at his lover.

“So what kind of sex did you want to have?” Magnus asks. He knows the picture he’s painting, shirtless and spread out against the dark sheets, and he’s gratified and reassured by the glazed look that takes over Alec’s features momentarily.

The room is quiet, just the sound of their breathing, and then Alec slides gracefully down to his knees between Magnus’s legs.

“This kind.” 

Magnus runs a hand through his hair. “You don’t want to try receiving a blowjob first, before giving one?”

Shaking his head, Alec looks down at the floor for a moment, then brings his eyes back up. “This is what I can’t stop thinking about. Doing this for you. This is what I fantasize about.”

“Sucking me off,” Magnus drawls. He lets his hand slip down from Alec’s hair to cup his jaw; Alec nuzzles against his palm. 

It’s like the anal sex, of course; Magnus hates Shadowhunter homophobia. Of course Alec would stubbornly want this first.

“Yeah. I want to – to feel you inside of me. Is that okay?”

“I can’t say I’d _mind_ ,” Magnus jokes. Just the thought of Alec’s mouth stretched over him is making him want to squirm in place. It’s a vulnerable position, for him as well, letting Alec take him apart and make him let go. His skin feels hot with anticipation.

Alec leans forward and kisses his chest, then kisses down his belly, until his lips are just above the waist of Magnus’s trousers. Casually, Magnus conjures the steel container into the bedroom, channeling a little bit of magic into it. Alec shivers and grins, his teeth gleaming white in the low light.

“That feels so good,” he says, his hands working the buttons open. 

“It’s gonna get a lot more intense,” Magnus warns, lifting his hips as Alec pulls the trousers down and off. Magnus magics away his socks; he can’t stand wearing socks during sex. Alec shuffles in closer, but Magnus stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Take off your shirt?” 

Alec does, holding eye contact while he reaches behind his head to pluck the t-shirt off of his body. He runs his hands up Magnus’s bare legs, over his knees, up his thighs. More magic moves between them, into the container, and it’s heavy with anticipation, trepidation, and bare desire.

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Alec mutters, placing a kiss on Magnus’s upper thigh.

“You’re doing just fine,” Magnus assures him. 

The first tentative touch of Alec’s lips to the head of his cock is overwhelming, not just for the sensation itself but for the feedback loop it forms in their shared magic, Alec’s joy in the moment magnified and spun out in time; when he opens his mouth and starts to suck, just a little, it only gets more powerful.

“Oh, God,” Magnus groans, and magics himself a cushioned backrest before he’s too far gone to remember how. He’s not going to be able to hold himself up, but he does not want to miss the sight of Alec’s eyes falling closed as he takes more of Magnus’s cock between his soft, wide lips.

“That’s perfect, Alexander, just like that,” Magnus croons, petting Alec’s hair, getting lost in the rushing, crashing waves of joy and defiance pouring off of Alec like smoke from a covered fire. Magnus hates Shadowhunter homophobia, but damn if it isn’t powerful when someone starts to shake it off.

Alec tries to go down further, and gags, and coughs, pulling back. Magnus takes his hand and magics him some lube. “You don’t have to take it all on your first try,” he says, then smiles slowly. “Save something for later.”

“Okay,” Alec says. His lips already look reddened, like he’s been sucking cock for hours. Magnus can’t wait for the day when they actually manage that, but doubts that it’s going to be today. “Will you – can you tell me what you want?” 

“Yeah. Sure thing,” Magnus pants, as Alec takes him in again, lips sliding down to meet his fist. He tangles his fingers in Alec’s hair, and feels Alec’s free hand tighten on his thigh. Gently, he encourages Alec down, then back up, not pushing, but indicating direction, the way he would if they were dancing. “Go a little faster,” he says, and Alec does, his mouth making obscene wet sounds as he moves, finally, into a rhythm. “Oh, that’s beautiful, yes, Alexander. That’s so good, you’re so good.” 

Alec makes a noise in his throat, a moan, a whimper. Magnus gasps in response. The magic is rising between them again, making the air around them thick with power and potential; Magnus’s hips lift up off the bed and he cries out, letting his eyes fall closed for just a moment before opening them again. Alec looks debauched, hair falling into his eyes, mouth stretched wide, body trembling with lust. 

“Harder, _oh_ , a little more, I’m so close,” Magnus groans, twisting under Alec’s hands and mouth, feeling the drag of Alec’s fingernails across his thigh. “So close, _yes_ – ”

He gives Alec’s shoulders a push, but Alec doesn’t move, keeps his solid body braced between Magnus’s thighs, his mouth and hand on Magnus’s cock, and when Magnus comes, shouting, he tries to swallow. 

Blinking up, a moment later, Magnus pants out an amused, amazed breath at the sight of Alec with come on his lips. He rubs it away with his thumb.

“Have to do it all, don’t you,” he breathes, shaking his head. “No half-measures.”

“I wanted it.” Alec’s voice is hoarse.

Magnus fists his hand in Alec’s hair – pulling in earnest for the first time – and tugs him up up up, waving away the backrest so he can collapse backwards with Alec on top of him. They kiss, long and luxuriant, Alec’s energy made of surprise and elation as he realizes that Magnus wants to taste his come on Alec’s lips. 

Magnus kisses his throat and mouths softly down along a collarbone, feeling the hardness against his leg and wondering what the best next step would be. 

“You took such good care of me, Alexander,” Magnus whispers into his ear. Alec shudders. “Do you want to take these off? Let me take care of you?”

Nodding helplessly, mouth open, Alec fumbles his jeans open and shoves them down his hips, graceless and desperate. 

“Shhh.” Magnus helps him, throwing a little magic at the problem when the jeans get tangled around his ankles. “Relax, it’s gonna be all right, I’ve got you.” He runs a firm hand up Alec’s thigh, loving the feedback-feeling of _newness_ that sparks off of Alec’s skin everywhere he touches. He wraps a hand around Alec’s cock and strokes slowly. As he pulls upward, Alec’s entire body arches off the bed, his hips thrusting towards Magnus’s grip.

“How do you want me?” Magnus asks. “My hand, like this, or my mouth, or my ass – I told you I wanted to ride you.” Even as he says it, he knows it’s impossible, but is rewarded anyway by the flash of heat that shudders through Alec’s aura like a wave. Magnus shudders with it, channeling it into the container with the rest.

“Not gonna last that long,” Alec says, hands gripping the sheets. Magnus shifts so that he’s straddling Alec’s body and pushes his hands into Alec’s tight fists, opening them up, interlacing their fingers. Alec’s eyes snap open as he looks up at Magnus. 

“I’ve got you,” Magnus says, and kisses him softly. He wishes they’d spent a little more time talking this through beforehand; this is one of those moments where Magnus might normally use a little magic to help him last longer. Next time. 

Alec doesn’t express a preference, just breathes in harsh pants and kisses Magnus again and again. Magnus can’t quite bear the thought of letting a virgin suck him off without returning the favor, so he touches Alec’s lips to stop the kisses and says, “Can I put my mouth on you?”

“Yes, _please_ ,” Alec manages. Magnus doesn’t waste any time shuffling down the bed, but takes a moment to kiss Alec’s thigh, the same place Alec kissed on him, and look up. Alec’s watching him in wonder.

“You’re so beautiful like this. I hope you know how beautiful,” Magnus says, and takes him in.

He doesn’t take him all the way down – it seems like it would be rude to show off – but he does a few little tricks for Alec to pick up on: rubbing against the underside with the flat of his tongue, sucking hard on the head before dropping suddenly to take him deep, alternating light and rough pressure until Alec is almost thrashing beneath him, his hard, muscled thighs shifting and flexing restlessly. It doesn’t take long for him to come, and when he does, he releases so much magic that it makes the poor little steel container rattle on the bedside table. Or maybe it’s because of Alec’s hands slamming into the headboard. Magnus isn’t really in a position to pay attention.

Blinking, it takes Magnus a moment to come back to himself. Channeling Alec’s orgasm-energy had been almost like orgasming again himself, and now his limbs feel heavy in the thick, magic-saturated air. 

“Magnus, Magnus, come here,” Alec breathes, flailing his arms up loosely in the air, beckoning. Magnus laughs and falls into his open arms. It’s been a long time since he’s been naked and post-coital with another person, and he basks in the feeling of his skin against his lover’s.

They kiss softly. “How do you feel?”

Alec shrugs, the motion carried through to Magnus’s body. “Really good.”

“Virginity still intact?” 

Laughing, Alec shakes his head, then holds up his thumb and forefinger, held close together. “Maybe a lil bit.”

“Like, would you say twenty percent, or . . .” Magnus ducks his head with pleasure as Alec kisses his neck roughly and bites, retaliation for the teasing.

“It’s funny. I don’t feel like I’m less. I feel . . . bigger. Warmer. Like I have more energy to give than I did before.” He glances over at the container on the side table and frowns. “How could I feel like I have more of myself when a bunch of me is stored in a jar?”

“Mmm. Magic isn’t matter. It can be created, and destroyed. And sex is a fairly famous way of creating it. You’ve lost one kind and gained another.” 

“No wonder warlocks are so . . . so . . .”

“Hot?”

Alec laughs. “Open-minded,” he corrects. “But yeah, hot too.” He kisses Magnus’s jaw softly.

Magnus sits up a little, straddling Alec’s hips, and floats the steel container into his hands. “We see the workings of the world,” he says, and snaps his fingers. The container becomes transparent: inside, multicolored swirling energies blend and clash. Alec reaches up to touch it, fingers stopping against the surface. “How could you say that all these different experiences are more or less valuable, more or less important? How could you label one of them and call it virginity? When you see the energies within people, different acts can have flavor, but it’s hard for them to have hierarchy.” He makes the container opaque again, and returns it to its place.

“I know you feel that way about it,” Alec says, eventually. “But I don’t.”

“And that changes the magic,” Magnus agrees. “Strange, isn’t it.”

They rest in silence for a few more moments. Magnus magics away their cooling bodily fluids and leaves them both fresh and warm; perhaps he’s spoiling Alec for any non-warlock lovers, but he can’t bring himself to care, when he has the option of staying here, in Alec’s arms, luxuriating against his body and the magic that makes it up. The afterglow is, in this case, literal.

“Tell me when you want to do that last twenty percent,” Magnus says, eventually, into the rising dark of the room. “If you ever do, that is; I’m perfectly content without it. But if you want a ritual, I’ll give you one.”

Alec takes his mouth, hungrily, an Magnus’s body begins to rouse again. He wonders what other firsts they can discover tonight.

*

He spends the next two weeks with Alec in his bed almost every night. He introduces Alec to the long slow handjob, to deepthroating, to the sweetness of his thighs around Magnus’s cock. Magnus sucks his nipples and scratches his skin and pulls his hair, lies back while Alec massages his feet, fists the sheets while Alec sucks on his balls, and tries not to laugh at Alec’s nonplussed expression when Magnus gets come in his hair. It’s ludicrous, to Magnus, that anyone could be called a virgin at that point, but self-identity is a funny kind of magic.

He also asks Alec to fuck him, which seems to take Alec by surprise. “You’ll enjoy it more on the bottom if you already understand the mechanics,” Magnus reasons. “And besides, I want you to see just how much I like it.” He kisses Alec’s knuckles. “I like it a lot.”

So he slowly, deliciously, takes Alec’s cock into his ass, talking him through it, letting him see how good it feels. Afterwards, Alec is a little speechless, which makes Magnus feel smug. They generated a _lot_ of magic that way. Maybe more than Alec was expecting.

It’s not surprising that Alec corners him a few days later, after a late night council meeting at the Institute, and kisses him deeply before finally asking. “Tomorrow night,” he says, breathless. “Let’s fuck tomorrow night.”

“Mmm.” Magnus keeps his voice low and intimate, appropriate to the shadowed Institute corridor they’re occupying. It doesn’t escape his notice that they’re in the heart of the Clave, once again. “And when you say fuck, you mean . . . ?”

Alec gives him a dark look, then leans in to suck at that tender spot below Magnus’s ear. He runs his teeth over it, when he’s done sucking, and Magnus shivers.

“Fuck my ass, Magnus,” Alec murmurs into his ear.

Magnus grips him by the hair and takes his mouth. They stay there, kissing desperately against a wall, until Jace walks by and coughs loudly.

“Tomorrow,” Magnus promises, blinking to keep his eyes human for now.

*

Despite the weeks they’ve spent together, and everything they’ve done, Alec still looks nervous when he shows up at Magnus’s door, almost like he did in the old days before their relationship, when he used to act skittish, lash out, and pay compliments all in the same breath. 

“Hey,” Magnus says, taking his hand and kissing his cheek. 

“Hey.” Alec looks chagrined, too conscious of what he’s asked for and why he wants it. 

“So, if you had a hard day, you’re not feeling this, we can always postpone. I have a good Thai place on speed dial, and there’s a movie at the independent theater down the street.”

Alec takes a deep breath and wraps his arms around Magnus’s waist. “I’m still feeling this.”

“All right.” Magnus kisses him softly. When he pulls back, Alec is giving him an odd look.

“Are you?”

“What?”

Pursing his lips, Alec repeats, “Are you still feeling it? You’ve been so good this whole time, letting me go slow, make decisions . . . just because this is something you’ve done before doesn’t mean it’s something you want to do now, or tonight, or with me. Have I been putting too much pressure on you?”

Smiling, Magnus cups Alec’s jaw in his hand. “Who’ve you been talking to?”

Embarrassed, Alec sighs, “Izzy.”

“That is a close brother-sister bond that you two share.”

Pulling his arms up out of their embrace, Alec buries his face in his hands. “She’s very non-judgmental,” he cries, muffled, from behind his hands. Magnus laughs and pulls his hands away so he can see his face again. “And she’s nice, and . . . experienced, and she’ll keep my secrets because I’m already keeping all of hers.”

Magnus takes Alec’s palms in his hands and kisses them. “I think it’s sweet. I’m glad you talk to other people about us.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Everyone needs advice. I’ve asked Catarina about you, now and then.”

“Huh.”

“Thought I knew everything?”

Alec rolls his eyes. “No,” he says. “But, seriously, Magnus . . . what do you think? I don’t want you to feel obligated, or anything.”

Sighing, Magnus takes his hand and sits down with him on the couch. “I should’ve said this before, I think,” he says. “But I’ll never do anything with you that I don’t want to do. I never have. I hope you’ve always felt the same.”

Alec’s relieved smile is sweet; Magnus wishes he could capture that in a jar, too. “Of course,” he says. “You’re always asking me what I want. I just, I feel bad I never asked you.”

“You’re forgiven, since it’s your first time,” Magnus grins. “Ask me what I want now.”

“Magnus,” Alec breathes, running a hand up his thigh. “What do you want?”

“I want to see the expression on your face, and feel your magic, and hear your voice crying out as I fuck you.” Alec kisses him, and stands, picking him up in one motion so that Magnus laughs, wraps his legs around Alec’s waist, and hangs on as he’s carried across the apartment.

“You might’ve gotten your homophobic gender roles reversed,” Magnus says, as Alec carries him over the threshold into the bedroom. 

“I’m learning,” Alec shrugs, grinning. He’s so happy, so beautiful; Magnus hopes he can make this special for him. Not that there’s any pressure, or anything. Magnus wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, but Alec isn’t the only one who’s nervous. He lets go of Alec’s shoulders and gets back on his feet.

“So,” Alec says, voice low, “what do we do first?”

“Well, since you’re so uninitiated in the ways of pleasure,” Magnus says, to Alec’s slow grin, “this would generally start with a kiss.”

It’s been a long time since their first kiss, and their first kiss was anything but hesitant, but there’s something tender and tentative about the moment when their mouths meet on this particular night: a tremble, perhaps, in Alec’s lip, a caught breath in Magnus’s throat. They start slow but heat up quickly, lips and tongues soft, desperation growing between them.

When they finally pull apart, Alec opens his eyes in wonder.

While they were kissing, the room filled with twinkling tea light candles, with flower petals adorning the bed, and a fire roaring in the fireplace that wasn’t there a moment before. 

“Too much?” Magnus asks, wincing. Alec shakes his head. 

“It’s beautiful.”

Magnus smiles, pleased, and is taken off-guard when Alec suddenly claims his mouth again. 

“So, you like it, is what I’m getting,” Magnus laughs against his lips. “Such a romantic.”

“Shut up, you are too,” Alec smiles, kissing his way down Magnus’s throat and gently undoing the buttons of his shirt.

They take time in undressing each other, drawing out the process, caressing each newly-bared patch of skin with hands and mouths, taking their time to linger, biting, sucking, Magnus’s lips on Alec’s earlobe, Alec’s tongue against Magnus’s nipple. They’ve developed a rhythm, the two of them together, and Alec knows a lot more than one of his hot spots, now. It’s a feeling Magnus has been waiting for, of knowing a lover well, of being able to anticipate them, collaborate with them. It’s a feeling that’s new to Alec, and Magnus solemnly draws its unique, playful, confident energy from Alec’s aura, making them both grin and roll together, perfectly timed, perfectly balanced, so that Magnus is straddling him on the bed.

“How’s it going?” Alec asks, a little out of breath, face shining in the firelight. Magnus kisses him, rolling their hips together. They’re both hard, but the mood in the room is calm and relaxed. Magnus can feel the magic beginning to coalesce around them, and thinks, _this is going to be good._

“I think it’s going really, really well,” Magnus offers, grinding down, his hands running up and down Alec’s forearms, not quite pinning his wrists to the bed. “But I’m eager for second opinions.”

Alec reaches up to run his hands from Magnus’s hips up to his waist, then back down. “I like this. I like you. I like doing this with you,” he says simply. Magnus kisses him, hot and deep and slow. “I love doing this with you,” Alec corrects, when he pulls away.

“Me too.” Magnus bends to suck Alec’s nipple, getting it hard and then giving it a little bite. Alec yelps, undignified, and Magnus laughs at the sound, something he knows he’ll never hear from Alec in any other context.

“You remember how this worked before?” 

Alec nods. “You gonna fuck me from behind?” 

Magnus caresses his face. “If that’s what you want. It’s a little easier, especially for your first time.”

He watches Alec think it through. “I like the idea of you . . . behind me. Over me. Being on my hands and knees. Your weight . . .” he stutters to a stop, blushing lightly, but Magnus encourages him with a kiss to his sternum. “But I want to see you, too.”

“I may have a solution for that,” Magnus says. “If you’ll trust me with a surprise.”

Alec nods. “I trust you. I’ve always trusted you.”

A long, lingering kiss later, Magnus moves enough to let Alec roll over and get up onto his knees. His aura intensifies, sparking with anticipation, and Magnus smiles to see it.

“Spread your legs a little more,” Magnus instructs, and Alec complies, opening himself up. Magnus kisses the base of his spine, and considers going lower, but then stops himself, at least for now. There will be time for that some other day.

“Look at you,” he murmurs, sliding a hand up Alec’s bare thigh, over his ass, up to the base of his spine and then back down again. “Do you know how good you look? How much I want to be inside you?”

“What’s stopping you?” Alec snarks, and Magnus gives him a little slap on the cheek. Alec takes a sharp breath.

“Too much?” 

Alec shakes his head no.

“You like this?” Magnus gives him another soft swat, and a hoarse _yes_ tears itself from Alec’s throat. 

“Hmm. Very nice.” Magnus gives him another slap, on the other cheek, takes a moment to savor the magic that flows from that little discovery, then goes back to caressing, running his hands up Alec’s thighs and spreading him open. “To answer your question, I’m going slow because the magic – ”

“The magic works better when we go slower,” Alec says, in unison with Magnus. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“Also, I just like drawing the moment out,” Magnus adds. He lubes his fingers and draws them over Alec’s asshole, circling round and beginning to press in lightly.

“God, Magnus, I’m so ready, _please_ ,” Alec whines. Magnus bends to kiss his spine again, to soothe his palm over Alec’s hip. 

“We’ll get there, Alexander,” he breathes, beginning to finger him. “I’m going to fuck you, unless you tell me otherwise.”

Energy is flowing all around them now: Alec’s reactions to the position, the penetration, the little swats that Magnus throws in occasionally to keep Alec grounded. Magnus curls his fingers up and Alec groans, long and low, before dropping his head down between his shoulders and panting. _Probably not a part of Shadowhunter sex ed,_ Magnus thinks, but keeps the thought to himself, for now. 

“Magnus,” Alec breathes, “Magnus.”

“You want more?” Magnus has three fingers in him, now, stretching and stroking him open.

“Yes, yes, please, come on,” Alec begs, each word on a short exhalation of breath. 

“Move back a little.” Magnus moves with him, towards the foot of the bed, and waves his hand towards the now-empty space in front of them. He bends down to put his lips next to Alec’s ear. “Now look up, Alec.”

Alec does, confronted with the image of the two of them in a large, perfect mirror: with his own flushed cheeks and sweat-damp hair, with the sight of himself hard and panting, with Magnus behind him, inside of him.

“Good?” Magnus asks. He hopes like hell he hasn’t gotten this wrong.

“I – I – yeah,” Alec manages. “Fuck, Magnus, I didn’t – I never would’ve – ”

“I can make it go away anytime,” Magnus says, drawing his fingers out in one last slow stroke, making Alec’s mouth drop open, making Alec see himself groan with pleasure. 

“Leave it.” 

Magnus can’t help but be wildly turned on by that, by the sight of Alec hungry for this, for the spectacle of his first fucking. He shifts position, lining his thighs up behind Alec’s. 

“Now relax for me, Alexander,” Magnus breathes, and pushes, slowly, into him. Alec’s eyes flutter closed at first, as he loses himself in the sensation, and Magnus has to gasp at the power rolling off of him: joyful, and electric, and _free_ , free in a way he’s never been before, like his body is finally his own, finally right.

“Oh, oh, darling,” Magnus groans. “Oh, my darling, yes. Open your eyes, Alexander. Watch this.”

Alec does, and sees himself bent over, sees Magnus’s hands on his back, on his shoulders, sees himself with his legs spread wide to take cock. 

Magnus gulps for breath; the expression on Alec’s face is nearly too beautiful to bear. He starts to thrust, barely noticing the change when his cat-eyes look back at him from the mirror. “Look at you,” Magnus says, unable to stop himself. “Look at you, debauched, filled, giving yourself up to me.”

There’s a surge of magic between them, and Alec pushes back, meeting Magnus thrust for thrust, crying out at the sensation. They fall back into rhythm, the two of them, the rhythm that they already know so well, just taken further and faster. 

“Fuck me, Magnus, fuck, fuck me,” Alec moans, almost in time with their thrusts. “Fuck me, please, fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” watching himself as he says it, watching himself as Magnus does it, fucks him, takes him, thrusts into him. 

Magnus throws his head back for a moment, gets lost in the sensation and the magic and the pure animal joy of the act. Then he takes a deep breath and holds on, ready to wait, to ride this out as long as Alec needs to. He looks into the mirror again, sees Alec meeting his gaze.

“ _Look_ at you,” Magnus whispers. “Wanting this so badly. Do you see it?”

“Yeah, yeah, yes,” Alec pants. “I want it, Magnus, I want it, please – ”

“Look at yourself, taking what you wanted. What you’re not supposed to have.”

Alec cries out, trembling beneath him, and Magnus pushes himself just a little faster, just a little harder, now that Alec is so open and he’s sliding in easy, easy easy. Reaching around, Magnus takes Alec’s cock in his hand, and Alec almost sobs at the simple touch.

“I bet you can come just from fucking,” Magnus says, in wonder, kissing his shoulder. “We’re gonna try that next time, Alexander, just – my cock – and nothing else, just gonna fuck you and fuck you till you come – ”

He moves his hand faster, up and down Alec’s cock, in time with his thrusts, and then the magic really does overwhelm him, colors and lights passing through him in a wave as they move together, caught in one perfect, endless moment of orgasm, fucking and fucking and fucking together for God knows how long, suspended and arcing in a feedback loop of emotion that takes them higher and higher until it must, at last, in a final moment of release, collapse in on itself.

It takes Magnus a few seconds – minutes? – to come back to himself. When he does, his limbs are all tingling, and Alec is shifting beneath him, enough that he slips out of his ass. Alec collapses down onto his face, and Magnus gives in to the ominous shaking in his thighs and collapses beside him, laughing out of sheer joy.

“So, we captured that feeling in a bottle, huh,” Alec says, muffled against the pillow, a few minutes later.

Magnus laughs into the blankets, helpless, shaking. “We did,” he manages, eventually.

“And now I’m not a virgin anymore.”

“Sure, I mean, if you say so.” Magnus finds the energy, somewhere, to roll up onto his side and prop his head up with his arm so he can look at Alec. He looks properly ravished, muscles loose, skin covered in sweat, practically glowing; Magnus congratulates himself on a job well done. 

“Whaddyou mean, if I say so,” Alec complains, still into the pillow.

“Well, speaking only for myself, I think we could really explore that little spanking thing of yours further.” 

Alec’s eyes snap open, as if just remembering what they’d done in the heat of the moment. Magnus laughs and kisses the top of his head.

“And of course there’s rimming. Alexander, I’m going to go out on a limb and say right now: you are going to love rimming.”

“Plus there’s that whole trunk full of toys that you keep in the closet,” Alec puts in, looking as innocent as he can while spread out naked on Magnus’s bed with semen dripping down his thighs. Magnus drops his mouth open in mock outrage.

“You snooped!”

“I snooped,” Alec agrees. “Only for sex stuff, I promise.”

“Well, then,” Magnus grumbles, letting himself fall back against the pillows once more. His head bangs against the mirror and he winces before snapping his fingers and making it disappear again. Alec chuckles.

“Hey Magnus.”

“Yes, Alexander?”

“I think we’re gonna need a bigger jar.”


End file.
